Cycling UK Forum

millimole

willcee wrote: poor weather these past 3 months have meant our wheels are hung , and looks like our fitness will be hard to get back at our advanced ages .. will

This is my experience - I was regularly commuting 45 minutes each way (with an uphill at the end each way) and when I retired some years ago, my fitness levels dropped off a cliff, never to return.
That regular riding meant I could do between 50 - 120 miles on a weekend ride and still feel human on Monday.
Stopping the commute and being unwell put paid to that, now I lack both the fitness and the motivation to ride any distance - and that is very much a chicken & egg affair (if I had the motivation I'd ride, if I rode more I'd have the motivation).

My experience tells me that it's persistent all-year round riding that is important to maintain a base level of fitness (and motivation!)

millimole

pjclinch wrote:
fastpedaller wrote: ↑17 Mar 2024, 11:13am
deeferdonk wrote: ↑13 Mar 2024, 11:29am More perplexing to me is when you see a couple of other bidders have a bit of a bidding war when there's still a week/ages left on the auction, driving up the price early on. Why don't you just wait till closer to the end and/or put your max bid in?

Must have admit I have let out an evil laugh on the couple of times when i have seen this happen and then snipe and win the auction at the last minute.
I've seen items with many days left with (say) £5 on the bid. Thinking the item is worth £70 to me, I've sent the seller a note "I'm happy to pay £50 for the immediate purchase of this item" . This approach has been successful (and on others the seller has said they'll let the auction run. I don't know if making an early offer is now 'allowed' on Ebay. They change the rules so often. Frustratingly they really make it difficult sometimes...... A few years ago I wanted to send hi-res photos of a bike to the prospective buyer but he couldn't send me his email or 'phone number to make this possible.
An offer is a specific option, seen as "make an offer" if the seller has chosen that facility. You put in an offer, the seller can reject or make a counter-offer.

Pete.

Yes, the way the seller can handle this is to amend the listing to Allow Offers and notify the prospective buyer that you have made the change. Then the buyer makes the 'agreed' offer, which the seller accepts.

I always include 'allow offers' in my sales listings as it can make things much easier.

millimole

I use bidding software (Gixen) for Ebay.
I use it like a 'buy it now' process.
I will put the price I'm prepared to pay into the software - and if I win all well and good, if I don't then I shrug my shoulders.
For me it avoids any temptation to get into a bidding war. I know what an item (usually a vintage camera) is worth *to me* and that's the maximum I will pay.
I'm successful most of the time, often winning well below my maximum.

millimole

pjclinch wrote:
thirdcrank wrote: ↑3 Mar 2024, 3:02pm
pjclinch wrote: ↑3 Mar 2024, 2:08pm ... Why do the likes of Cycling UK, (... ) maintain a neutral stance on their use
IIRC, back in the days before the immediacy of the internet, the then head honcho (not their official title) of the CTC decided that neutrality on issues like this was the only practical approach. And that has persisted eg with a special section of this forum
That doesn't really answer the question.
Why was it considered "the only practical approach", particularly when many other cycling organisations were happy to push them and the likes of Roger Geffen seem much better availed of the evidence than contemporaries in other such bodies?

Pete

My recollection is that helmet discussion was corralled into a separate area because discussions went beyond 'robust' and became unpleasant and angry. The discussions popped up in every sub-forum and they all went the same way.
The pragmatic solution was to create a board purely for helmet discussion so that members could read / not read these arguments for themselves.
Another deciding point may have been that helmet discussions are circular with no apparent conclusion, and no change of mind of the combatants.

millimole

Thehairs1970 wrote:Anyone know if the tram at the Hook of Holland port takes bikes? And does it go to Rotterdam?

I've regularly seen bikes on the trams at Hoek. They are unstaffed (apart from the driver) and no one will care.
The tram goes to Scheidam Centraal which I think is the last above ground stop before going into the tunnel. There is a stop at Rotterdam Boers (? Spelling) which is the closest stop in the direct line to Rotterdam Centraal station.
If you are looking online - it's Rotterdam metro line B. Contactless card payment - no need to buy tickets.

millimole

Slowroad wrote:
Slowroad wrote: ↑21 Jan 2024, 8:28pm

I recently looked at Rail & Sail and now it seems to only include the rail tickets to and from Harwich, not the days' travel in the Netherlands. A shame but still good value.

Are you on/in Greater Anglia train region?
Website text suggests I have to pay to get myself to LIverpool Street (I'm west of London!) before using their deal:

DUTCHFLYER RAIL & SAIL IS THE EASIEST WAY TO GET FROM LONDON TO HOOK OF HOLLAND IN COMFORT AND STYLE
Stena Line's Dutchflyer provides combined rail and ferry travel for passengers wishing to travel from Britain to Holland. Depart from any Greater Anglia station to our Hook of Holland Port from as little as £58 one-way.

Train services from Greater Anglia stations take you to Harwich International Port where you can board one of Stena Line's two Superferries to Holland
Yes, I wasn't clear enough, was I? I have to buy a ticket to St Pancras and cycle to London Liverpool Street! The prices have gone up but are still good.

If you are heading from the Midlands look at going via Peterborough and Cambridge. I think Peterborough is a Greater Anglia station, Cambridge certainly is. There is a twice daily direct train from Cambridge which connects with the ferry.

millimole

Dupont wrote:Thanks. I am going to look at the ncn 6 option from MK in a bit more depth. I think my Mrs will be ok with the towpath from Paddington Basin to MK. Then try to pick up that Brampton Valley path also.

Day 1. London to MK
Day 2. MK to Leicester
Day 3 Leicester to Burton and home via route 54.

I used to regularly cycle between Northampton and Leicester (sometimes extended from MK when my wife was working there).

Route 6 is definitely the way to go. It does have a couple of unnecessary loops (near Market Harborough and near Countesthorpe) easily identified on maps.

The Brampton Valley Way is a delight but recent reports indicate that the surface in the two tunnels is breaking up - you may have to walk a bit!
Approaching Leicester along Route 6, Great Central Way, is easy and avoids the suburban sprawl and it's associated traffic. Parts have recently been resurfaced.

(Every time I went south through Northampton towards MK I got lost! Never had a problem going north - make of that what you will).

millimole

I don't take a bike with me any more, but I try to ask about cycle parking when I remember.

Two reasons - I try to put the answer in my review as an aid to people like the OP, and secondly to raise the awareness of the need among hotel operators.

My guesstimate is that 9/10 hotels will readily oblige with somewhere secure, the other 1/10 have never even thought of it as a question.

I suggest that we all try to ask the question whether cycling or not.

millimole

Many years ago (15-20) I tried to do a trial on my commuting bike to see if a lollipop made any difference.
Same route same commuting time, with / without The Thing and a count of what I considered to be a close pass - so a bit scientific but not robust.
My conclusion was that *if* it made any difference, it made matters very slightly worse. Discussing this (possibly on this forum?) led me to conclude that the lollipop was something drivers focused on and 'aimed at' rather than looking at the rider themselves and giving more room.
I don't use one at all now.

millimole

Our main holidays in recent years have been generally flight-free, and as my wife doesn't cycle, they are also cycle-free!

We've got as far as Hungary and Northern Italy using train & ferry, and slow travel.

My wife wanted to go on a Rhine Cruise a few years ago - but I saw the prices and we achieved pretty much the same using public ferries (and met much nicer people).
I wanted to go to Lake Balaton, so we did, and came back via Vienna and the sleeper train to Amsterdam (never again - I'm too old for that, even in the luxury compartment!).

This year we're going to the German Baltic Coast by ferry from Hull, and back to Harwich.

It's not a cheap way of holidaying, but you can go to places off the tourist map, and you'll meet interesting people. It's far less stress.

millimole

You say you are not keen on towbar, but have you considered a removable towbar. I've had them fitted to my wife's Toyotas and they work just as well as a normal towbar, but 'dissappear' when removed. They are a bit more expensive but are a solution if it's the aesthetics that concern you.

millimole

cycle tramp wrote:
Airsporter1st wrote: ↑3 Jan 2024, 2:32pm
As a result, I am now able to cycle longer distances without having to face the ignominy of having to get off and push the last bit of my journey!
What's the ignominy of pushing a bike up a hill? After all it's an exercise which promotes bone density.

I've got a few club magazines from the 1970s (CTC Northern Section / Metropolitan Division) where the run reports regularly mention walking up hills.
Refusing to walk is something that seems to have become 'a thing' round about the mid 1980s at a guess.

millimole

geomannie wrote:
Steve Snook wrote: ↑26 Dec 2023, 10:01pm Thanks for all the useful replies.

As it happens all my cycling mates with hearing aids have behind the ear NHS ones and they all do exactly the same - take them off when they get on their bikes in case they get dislodged while riding,
If that works for them that is great, but as I said, I never thought not to wear my behind ear NHS hearing aids while cycling. It works fine for me; they don't fall out, wind noise is minimal and it's great being able to hear while cycling. Why not try wearing them and see how it goes for you?

Wise words indeed!

millimole

Steve Snook wrote:Thanks for all the useful replies.

As it happens all my cycling mates with hearing aids have behind the ear NHS ones and they all do exactly the same - take them off when they get on their bikes in case they get dislodged while riding, and put them back in at cafe stops. Then they complain that they can't hear conversation in the cafe because the background noise is amplified so much! I know it's possible to get aids that work out where the conversation is coming from and amplify that and reduce background noise, but I don't know if NHS ones do this.

So I wondered if "in the ear" ones were more secure if anyone has experience of those?

And I wondered if these and the ones that reduce background noise would reduce the sound of vehicles coming up from behind. I do have a rear view mirror, but one of my regular right hand turns for example is on the busy A59 with cars and HGVs whizzing past at 60 mph, and I'm reluctant to rely on the mirror alone unless there's absolutely no traffic noise to be heard. Now I'm of a certain age and not as flexible or balanced as I used to be that means stopping on the left hand verge so I can look behind. Maybe I will just need to do more of this.

I asked the audiologist about my NHS aids getting dislodged while riding and they gave me additional plastic 'wires' that loop inside my outer ear, these act as keepers and I've never had any worries about them coming out since when riding or doing other exercise.
I think they might be called "sports locks", but I'm not sure. These are standard NHS fitments - your pals should ask about them.

My reason for taking them out when riding (as mentioned previously) is wind noise - the product for dealing with this is marketed as "Ear Gear" (Google it) - expensive but effective, the extra 'bulk' becomes a problem when you add glasses!
I suspect 'in the ear' aids will also be affected by some wind noise but have no experience

millimole

briansnail wrote:Hearing is just important as eyesight. Professional help is best.On my local high street is a Boots Hearing shop.You can google your nearest and drive up (or cycle up).Think they do free tests.

Why would you go to a private provider when free tests are available through your GP?

The private one - with the bait of the free test - will offer you their expensive aids (and an expensive maintainace package)
The NHS one will give you the same (sometimes more thorough) hearing test with no cost and free follow up and free batteries.

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